The Realized Universe (Genjo kôan, Part 6)
There are many dimensions for seeing reality. We as human beings have to
leave the dust and dirt of the so-called normal life to go the Buddha way. Then
we leave the normal barriers and hindrances of body-and-mind and especially of
our understanding of human beings, social groups and the world.
“And beyond this, there still may be further progress.
The existence of (their) practice-and-experience and the existence of their
lifetime and their life, are like this."
It is important that we find our place in this world and that we find
our true actions in society and in the realized universe. And these dimensions
cannot be only materialistic and physical, they go beyond the opposition of
subjective and objective. Because reality exists in the present moment, the past and the future are not so important
because they are just processes in our brain. In the state of perfect realization it appears together
with the Buddha Dharma and this is the natural and free situation. It is very
important to remember that mere consciousness is not so important:
“Do not assume that what is attained will inevitably
self-conscious and be recognized by the intellect.”
And if we are practising: to get a small part of the world, a Dharma,
means to penetrate one Dharma.
In the last paragraph of this important chapter Master Dôgen tells a
kôan story about a Master, who is using a fan because it is hot and he wants to
have some refreshing coolness. A monk comes along. He is convinced that he is
very intelligent and knows a lot about the Buddha Dharma. So he tells the
Master:
“The nature of air is to be ever-present, and there is
no place that (air) cannot reach. Why then does the Master use the fan?”
So he might be intellectually right and have an abstract understanding
of Buddha´s teaching, but in the concrete situation of using a fan such nice
words are not very important and miss the mark. And this truth is exactly what
the Master tells the monk. But at first the monk doesn’t understand what the
Master is trying to explain to him. So he asks the question again about the
truth of the air being everywhere. But it is evident that words cannot convince the monk and help him to experience reality
itself. Because of this, the Master does not continue the conversation, he just
moves the fan to get fresh air. Through this action the monk immediately enters
into reality and understands the Buddhist truth, and so he prostrates himself
before the master:
“The real experience of the Buddha-Dharma, the vigorous road of the
authentic transmission, is like this.”
